OT: TREX Fencing

[TractorLarry]

Ok, big tractors mean big yards (except in my silly case), and big yards usually mean big fences.

So this seemed like a good place to ask for some Fencing advice

Anyone here have experience with TREX Fencing or Decking?

As part of my Re-Fi, I'm taking out enough to have my Fence replaced.

My two options are replacing it with the same Pressure-Treated Lumber, or using TREX, which is a composite made of Plastic and Wood.

Being fairly new, and this being a substantial investment (around $8000 for Wood, $11000 for TREX), I need to make sure I make the right decision here.

The current pressure-treated lumber fence is 17 years old. It was 2 years old when I bought the house in 1992.

Now it looks like this:

Now, the color aging isn't what concerns me. That's normal, and I could pay a company about $500 to pressure-wash it and it would look pretty good again. Except for the rotted parts, of course, as shown where Comet's feet are.

My main issue is the company that installed it for the previous owner used sub-standard materials and procedures (in my opinion). Non-galvanized nails. VERY poor toe-nailing technique's on the runners, etc...

Every ****** year I have to spend $600 to $1000 having posts replaced because they twisted, and entire sections of the fence have fallen down or are leaning over (I'm talking about the big perimiter fence here).

I'm fed up with it.

TREX is advertised as maintenance free, rot-free, twist-free, etc...

However, I have been reading some issues of black mold spotting, but that's been mainly on Decks, not fences.

TREX:

Trex Seclusions®

Anyone have experience with this stuff? Is it STRONG? Really maintenance free? Downsides?

Thanks

-Larry

 

[keltonkrew]

I have a product like that on my deck...I love it..I don't see where it will ever rot....I do pressure wash it occasionally as my grill will drop grease on it, etc......it does pressure wash off but it seems the grey color I had is getting lighter....

very durable and you won't have to replace it...that's a big + IMO.

 

[schmism]

hears my take

has Trex been around for 17 years? can you see what 10 year old product is like?

Id be just as concerned that 17 yr old plastic has just as many issues as any other material you would use would. (at a significant increase in price on the front end)

 

[TractorLarry]

Well, I wish I could

It is warranted for 25 years, but they say it will probably outlive the owner.

-Larry

hears my take

has Trex been around for 17 years? can you see what 10 year old product is like?

Id be just as concerned that 17 yr old plastic has just as many issues as any other material you would use would. (at a significant increase in price on the front end)

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not a big fan of Trex or other composites for decking. It's just not the extreme price you have to pay for it, but that it's incredably weak. I've seen decks with joists on 12 inch centers and composite decking that's bowed and even cracked.

I've never seen there fencing material in person, or a fence made of Trex. For a third more money, it sounds like more then most will be willing to pay.

Here in East Texas, we have some pretty extreme humidity and just over four feet of rain per year. Wood rots out fairly quickly and I make a fair living repairing and replacing it. Wood is still an excelent material for a fence, but if you go wood, you can upgrade your posts to galvanized pipe. The pipe will never rot out on you and that will eliminate the biggest problem with wood fences.

Some of the things I've seen in fences that fail are posts too far apart. I like them at 6 foot centers. Then I like to use 12 foot purlins and overlap the seams. I screw everything together and never use nails on any fence or decking. I've never seen a screw work itself loose, but nails do it all the time.

I've read and heard many people say to put gravel or something under a post before concreteing it in. I don't know if this does anything, as I've pulled allot of posts and never seen one where the rot was significant at the bottom. It's always at ground level that they rot off. This is true for every wood post that I've ever come across. The only way to prevent this and have a wood post last is to build up the concrete above grade and have it slope down and away from the post. When this is done, they last for a very long time. In fact, I've been doing it this way for over 20 years and none of those first ones have any sign of rot.

The last thing to remember with wood is that it will shrink on you. I tell everyone to buy it at least a month before it's installed and let it dry out. After a month, most of the shrinking is done and you can install it without too much change. It will still shrink on you, but not as bad compared to when it's first bought.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[jeffinsgf]

Don't know about fencing, but I will never have another wood deck now that I have tried Trex (or "Trex-like" products). No splinters, no pulled nails, so bleeding sap and no warp. Yes, you have to run your centers close. Yes the color fades. I'll still take it over wood any day -- for the decking surface. Structurally, I don't think it has what it takes. My deck is framed with ACQ lumber and decked with Trex (or whatever Lowe's sells). In Larry's shoes, I might use it for pickets, but not for purlins or posts.

My father was in the treated lumber business from the early 50's until the early 90's. Eddie is right, failure always happens at ground level. The problem is wet/dry cycling. You can take a rot prone species and sink it to the bottom of a body of water, and it will stay there for decades. You can take the same piece, and place it somewhere that it never gets wet, and it will last indefinitely. But when wood gets wet and dries out over and over, that is when the decay and the bugs get started.

Larry, don't be too hard on your PO's contractor. The government has restricted the wood treating industry to the point the treating compound is little more than green dye any more.

Check out western red cedar. It will be more than treated but maybe about the same as plastic composite. Concrete in your posts, and dome the concrete above grade, like Eddie suggested, and coat it with Thompson's every year (or every other) and it should last a long, long time.

 

[TractorLarry]

Thanks guys!

I wonder if dipping posts in a rubberized (or some other) coating, so it extends from the bottom to a foot above ground, would be useful.

Has this ever been tried?

If today's treated lumber is that bad, then that's a strike against the wood fense. I'd rather pay the extra 3G's and have something that won't twist.

I HATE twisted posts. I usually have to replace at least 2 a year.

This year I have FOUR, with a cost estimate of $750 to repair.

-Larry

 

[EddieWalker]

This year I have FOUR, with a cost estimate of $750 to repair.

-Larry

Larry, where are you located?

Last week I replaced ten posts, set them in concrete and reinstaled the pickets for $630 in two days. I felt it was a little high, but I worked on Sunday and it was a rush job, so I added a little for that.

$750 for four posts is half a day to pull and reset, another half day to reinstall the pickets, and that's just me working alone, and taking it easy.

Eddie

 

[TractorLarry]

Yeah, I know it's high. That's why I'm calling in more estimates not only for the repair but the entire fence replacement.

Those estimates came from a well-known, US-wide fencing company.

I didn't realize how bad the quotes were today until I stopped by a neighbors, who has a 1 year old 'new' fence, and discussed with them who did it and how much it cost.

It was half of what I got quoted from this famous fence company, and it INCLUDED haul-away.

More work to do here

-Larry

Larry, where are you located?

Last week I replaced ten posts, set them in concrete and reinstaled the pickets for $630 in two days. I felt it was a little high, but I worked on Sunday and it was a rush job, so I added a little for that.

$750 for four posts is half a day to pull and reset, another half day to reinstall the pickets, and that's just me working alone, and taking it easy.

Eddie

 

[Harvster]

I just replaced 2 posts last week. $12 for the two posts $10 for the concrete 2 hrs to dig out the old ones and reset the new ones Next day about 30 min to pull nails and put the fence panel back on with some screws. $750 for four posts? I need to think about this as a side job.